A Second Look: “The Pirates of Penzance” in Santa Rosa

In my original review of the 6th Street Playhouse production of The Pirates of Penzance (running in their GK Hardt Theater through June 21), I noted that the five principal roles were double-cast. The performance I originally attended and reviewed featured the “Bones” cast – Aidan Cumming, Caroline Flett, Drew Bolander, Ginger Beavers, and Ted…

Review: “The Pirates of Penzance” in Santa Rosa

Every well-rounded theatre-goer should see at least one Gilbert and Sullivan production in their lifetime and Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse is presenting a delightful opportunity to do so right now. Their robust production of The Pirates of Penzance runs through June 21.   Perhaps W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most-produced piece, the comic opera debuted…

Interview – “Company” at Spreckels Theatre Company

My guests on the 05/01/25 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Andrew and Maeve Smith, cast members from the Spreckels Theatre Company production of Company. The musical runs in the Codding Theatre at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park through May 18. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE for…

Review: “Escape to Margaritaville” in Santa Rosa

Jerome Kern. Richard Rogers. Oscar Hammerstein II. Stephen Sondheim. Jimmy Buffett.  Something seems off there. Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Gypsy, Escape to Margaritaville. Something really seems off there. “Ol’ Man River”, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin”, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”, “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. Ok, I think you see where this is going.  In the pantheon of…

Review: “As You Like It” in Napa

Napa Valley College has an excellent track record with youth-centric, large-scale Broadway musical productions. They’ve done a great job with past productions of such shows as Matilda the Musical and Spring Awakening. It was inevitable that Jennifer King, Theatre Arts and Film Studies Coordinator at NVC and founder of Shakespeare Napa Valley, would find a…

Preview: Sonoma/Napa Winter Theatre

North Bay theatre companies have their collective fingers crossed that audiences will continue to come out and support them in 2025. Holiday-themed shows now give way to the usual mixture of comedies, dramas, and musicals from classics to contemporary works to a short play festival. Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse gets things going in early…

Preview: Marin Winter Theatre

Marin theatre companies have their collective fingers crossed that audiences will continue to come out and support them in 2025. The New Year in theatre begins with a classic comedy, a musical adaptation of a Sundance Film Festival favorite, and a political drama that was banned for decades in its native England. The Novato Theatre…